Chapter 1308: I Only Want You (6)
Wu Pingyang dropped the subject about the gift, for fear that she would infuriate him. She continued, “The important members of my family will probably be present later. Don’t feel shy or awkward.”
“I won’t,” said Fan Shixin, who had experienced too much in life to be intimidated by a meeting. He asked, “Why aren’t we visiting your parents’ home instead, though?”
Wu Pingyang answered, “Well, actually, my grandfather was the one who wanted to meet you, so my mother arranged for us to meet at his home instead. If my family brings up the topic about our marriage… how do you plan to answer their questions?”
“It won’t be too late to talk about getting married after we’ve gotten to know each other better. I decided to go on blind dates precisely because I plan to get married. However, I can’t be too hasty about it since marriage is a once-in-a-lifetime affair and concerns my lifelong happiness.”
Wu Pingyang nodded and asked, “Where should we go now, then?”
“Where would you like to go?”
“Let’s go to Wei Ni Estate.”
“Alright.”
He brought her back to Wei Ni Estate. Upon alighting from his car, she glanced at the main mansion and asked, “Shixin, could you take me inside for a while? I’m really curious about what Mr. Jin’s home is like.”
Fan Shixin answered hesitantly, “Young Sir usually doesn’t allow outsiders to visit his home without his permission, unless you’re his friend or something. But since you’re my girlfriend, I can show you around the living room, but you can’t go upstairs.”
In order not to put him in a spot, she agreed compliantly with a nod. “Sure.”
Fan Shixin held her hand and walked her toward the door. As soon as she looked inside the mansion, she gasped in shock and exclaimed, “Wow, it’s so lavish!”
“Come in,” said Fan Shixin, who took the lead.
Wu Pingyang followed closely behind him and scanned her surroundings. She did not dare to come inside the main mansion at all when she looked him up at Wei Ni Estate previously.
She was extremely enticed by the extravagance of the luxurious mansion. If I ever have the chance to live in such a place, I would die with no regrets!
Although she was extremely tempted to take a look upstairs, she had no choice but to curb her urges since she had already promised him not to do so earlier.
After exiting the mansion, Wu Pingyang asked softly, “Shixin, who was that auntie just now?”
“She’s Auntie Chen. She’s the head cook who’s in charge of preparing all the meals. Her culinary skills are superb.”
“Oh, I see.”
Realizing that it was almost noon, Fan Shixin asked, “Shall we eat here or go to a restaurant elsewhere?”
“Let’s eat here. We can save the trouble of going to a restaurant.”
“What would you like to eat, then?” he asked.
“Do I get to eat whatever I want? I want to eat some delicious food,” Wu Pingyang said excitedly.
“Tell me what your cravings are. We’ll try and fulfill them as long as it’s possible.”
“I want some steak with red wine.”
Fan Shixin agreed with a nod, “Alright, I’ll inform the cooks. Wait for me in the guardroom.”
“Alright.”
She proceeded to the guardroom while Fan Shixin instructed the cooks to whip up some steaks. At the same time, he decided to give An Xiaoning a call.
It was almost midnight in R Nation, and An Xiaoning had yet to go to bed.
“Young Madam, are you going to bed already?”
“Not yet. What’s the matter, Shixin?”
After some thought, Fan Shixin asked, “My girlfriend asked to bring me home to meet her family today. What gifts should I bring along with me?”
“You ought to prepare two sets of gifts, one of which is for her parents.”
“Not only will I be meeting her parents…” Fan Shixin cleared his throat and continued, “She said that we’d be going to her grandfather’s home, which is also the Mu family mansion.”
“Aren’t you supposed to meet her parents first? But since you’re going to visit her grandfather’s home, you can’t bring a casual or simple gift. After all, her other relatives will be around too. However, I don’t think you should be meeting all of them so soon since you two aren’t at the stage where you’re planning to get married yet. Wouldn’t you go bankrupt if you have to meet them every so often?”
“She told me today that her grandfather loves drinking Blue Ocean and suggested that I buy him a bottle of that liquor, claiming that he would be thrilled to receive it as a gift.”
An Xiaoning scoffed and remarked in amusement and bafflement, “Why is this girl so greedy? You two have only been dating for such a short amount of time. You’re not married yet, there’s no need to buy her grandfather such an expensive gift. How about you go to our cellar and pick out a bottle of wine that costs about twenty to thirty thousand dollars? Give that to her grandfather. At the same time, gift her father and uncles some premium cigarettes too. You don’t have to go out of your way to buy them. Just take the ones that we have at home. Those should amount to a reasonable sum. Most guys would only spend a few hundreds or thousands of dollars on gifts for their girlfriends’ family. What you’re bringing is more than enough.”
Finding her words to have made sense, Fan Shixin agreed, “Alright, thank you, Young Madam.”
“Remember to dress formally.”
“Yes, I know.”
Fan Shixin immediately proceeded to get ready after hanging up the phone.
He wrapped the gifts up in special gift bags.
He then carried them to the guardroom.
Staring at the gift box in his hands, Wu Pingyang asked, “What’s that?”
“Cigarettes and liquor. They’re for your grandfather, father, and uncles.”
“What about my mother and aunts?”
Fan Shixin answered, “I can’t possibly bring a gift for everyone. It’s not like we’re getting engaged or married right now.”
“How can you be so biased as to only bring gifts for the men in my family? What are my mother and my aunts going to think of you? This is your first time meeting my family. How could you be so casual and perfunctory?”
“How am I being casual and perfunctory? These are worth about 60 thousand dollars. They’re considered to be expensive gifts. Am I supposed to bring gifts that are worth more than a few hundred thousand dollars on our first meeting?” Fan Shixin retorted.
Biting her lip, Wu Pingyang snapped, “You don’t care about me at all. I’m not asking you to bring my mother and my aunts costly gifts, but you ought to give them something as a kind gesture too, don’t you?”
Suppressing his emotions, Fan Shixin conceded, “Okay, I’ll buy some gifts for them along the way.”
Given Wu Pingyang’s petty temper, she would have left him long ago. However, she knew that she could not mess this up, for she would definitely have to face the music should that happen.
Trying to stop herself from throwing a fit, she said, “Alright. I’m hungry.”
“I’ll take you inside for lunch.”
“Okay.”
Although it was Fan Shixin’s first time meeting the Mu family, none of them left a good impression on him at all. He could not help but feel disturbed by the way that they were staring at him. He could tell that they seemed to have something to say whenever they looked at him.
He had a shy and reserved nature and would refrain from speaking much to strangers. He initially thought that he could pull through the meeting effortlessly since he had experienced far more stressful events in his life. However, he only realized after meeting the Mu family just how uncomfortable it was to have curious eyes glued onto him for hours.
In fact, they were not sensitive with their words at all. Not only did they ask him about his plans to marry Wu Pingyang, they had even bombarded him with a ton of inappropriate and taboo questions, including those about business, as well as about Jin Qingyan and An Xiaoning. However, he had declined to answer all of those sensitive questions, though he knew that he was being a killjoy by doing so.